Royal Challengers Bangalore spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is hopeful of a good show from the team’s middle-order in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League.
Middle-order has been the achilles heels for Royal Challengers in most of the previous editions. While the Bangalore-based outfit has always boasted of a strong top-order, the same cannot be said be about the middle-order especially after the number four spot. Last year, they had fared poorly despite having the likes of AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum.
The likes of Pawan Negi, Colin de Grandhomme, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes and others were given the responsibility to take care of the middle-order but they failed. In the first seven games, they had managed to win just 2 games. They managed to win double the number of games in the second half but eventually finished sixth. Smarting from the last season, the three-time finalists have signed up the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube to bolster their middle-order.
With the balance looking good now, Yuzvendra Chahal is now confident that the middle-order will deliver this season.
“This season we have a proper side. In the last season, we struggled in the middle overs, but you can see here that there are around 4-5 middle order batsmen like (Shimron) Hetmyer, Gurkeerat (Singh) and all. So, it can be said that we are a stronger side, compared to last year,” Yuzvendra Chahal said.
The bowler will also have their task cut out on the M Chinnaswamy track while will aid batsmen this season. Chahal, however, is not worried about and is instead looking ahead to the challenge.
“The wicket in Chinnaswamy was a bit of a turner last year, but this year it’s a good wicket. It’s going to be like the 2014-15 wicket, you might see totals of 190 to 200-plus every match. It’s going to be a good challenge, how you will mentally prepare yourself, how you come back in the next match when someone hits you for 40 runs in 4 overs. Here we have 14 matches but for India we have only 3 or 5 matches in a series. Here you can prepare yourself properly and come back stronger,” he said.
The Royal Challengers will open their campaign against defending champions Chennai Super Kings on March 23 in Chennai.